# An Otter RSS Reader — An okay minimalistic RSS app

> Minimalist RSS reader with iCloud sync, auto-discovery, and folder organization. (iPhone/iPad app by Josh Holtz.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/an-otter-rss-reader/id1529696614 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Josh Holtz](https://appshunter.io/developer/1460622095)
- Category: News
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Rating: 4.10/5 from 73 App Store ratings · 110 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 17+
- Requires: iOS 14.0 · 12 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2021-01-09
- Data updated: 2026-08-25
- Monetization: free with in-app purchases
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/an-otter-rss-reader/id1529696614/reviews.md

## What is An Otter RSS Reader?

"An Otter RSS Reader" is the world's newest most okayest RSS reader with a high key adorable otter icon!

"This is exactly what I've been looking for! A simple RSS reader that syncs my subscribed feeds across my iPhone, iPad, and Mac. This developer is genius! I think he nailed it with this app"
- Josh Holtz

FEATURES
+ Subscribe to RSS Feeds that sync over iCloud
Fetches RSS feeds and refreshes in a background task or on a pull-to-refresh.

+ Auto Discover Feeds
Simply enter the domain of website (like anotterrss.com) and Otter will attempt to discover all RSS feed urls to choose from.

+ Group Feeds Into Folders
You know... because organization is important.

+ Read Articles In A Normal Web View
This isn't anything special. This is why its the okayest and minimalist. Just read the article like how it was supposed to be read. Is it even a reader? It might just be a syncer.

+ Shortcuts
Have fun automating with Shortcut actions for listing feeds, listing articles, and subscribing to new feeds.

+ Widgets
Add some gorgeous widgets to your Home Screen to show unread count for either all feeds or a specific folder of feeds.

+ Import/Export with OPML
Import your feeds with an OPML file (if you have one from your existing RSS reader). Export your feeds into an OPML file if you hate "An Otter RSS" and want to move to another app. We'll understand. There are plenty of other apps out there and this one might not be the one for you!

## Key features

- iCloud feed synchronization
- Auto-discover RSS feeds
- Group feeds into folders
- Read articles in web view
- Shortcuts integration
- Home screen widgets
- Import/Export with OPML

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Medium Tip | $2.99 | one-time |
| Large Tip | $5.99 | one-time |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |
| Mega Tip | $12.99 | one-time |
| Medium Tip | $2.99 | one-time |
| Mega Tip | $12.99 | one-time |
| Large Tip | $5.99 | one-time |
| Small Tip | $0.99 | one-time |


## What do users think of An Otter RSS Reader?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 👍 Elegant and convenient
- 👍 Great app
- 👍 Cute RSS reader in every way
- 👍 Works Great, syncs on all iOS Devices
- 👍 More than an 'okay minimalistic app'
- 👍 An absolute pleasure to use
- 👍 Perfectly simple RSS app
- 👍 Hands down the best Rss reader
- 👍 Better than ok
- 👍 Well designed and dang cute
- 👍 Pretty much perfect!
- 👍 Simple, Straightforward, Exactly what I needed
- 👍 Clean, simple to use, with integration and extras included
- 👍 Best looking RSS reader
- 👍 Proof free does not mean inferior
- 👍 Good and Clean
- 👍 Perfect
- 👍 Clean, sharp, functional & perfect

**Cons**

- 🐛 It does not work
- 🐛 Abandoned app
- 🐛 Bug list view dark mode
- 🐛 Only shows a couple of entries
- 🐛 Missing keyboard shortcuts
- 🐛 Doesn't work properly
- 🐛 Buggy
- 🐛 Inconsistent function
- 🐛 Crashes
- 🐛 Trouble persisting feeds
- 🐛 sync doesn't work
- 🐛 Abandoned Gem app
- 🐛 Only loads 5 articles
- 🐛 Good App, but Naggy
- 🐛 Font Size too small for my elderly eyes
- 🐛 Glitchy/Buggy
- 🐛 Frustrated
- 🐛 Broken by iOS 16
- 🐛 Doesn't work
- 🐛 Crashes when I try to import the feeds from the opml file.
- 🐛 Useless
- 🐛 Crashes

**Commonly reported bugs**

- It does not work
- Articles flicker in and out of existence and about 30 of them don't show at all
- The list views are messed up with many black spaces where a feed item should appear but is completely black
- Reader mode seems to not work
- Articles show up in duplicated often, articles had been marked as read will show up again as unread
- Feeds disappear after closing the app
- Feeds don't refresh
- Crashes when importing OPML files
- Crashing when importing opml files
- Crashes when trying to import an OPML file

**Most requested features**

- Encripted iCloud backups would be welcome
- Mark articles read on scrolling past them
- Option to hide read articles by default instead of manually hiding all the time
- When clicking on a top level folder it expands the folder clicking the arrow should expand the folder
- Needs swipe gestures example swipe right mark read/unread swipe left add to favorite
- Need to add an option to sort by oldest and newest first
- If in reader mode hitting the safari button should open in the in app browser instead of leaving the app
- Under notifications there should be an option to show badge count with unread articles
- Should be an option to see favicons to the left of the headline to quickly see at a glance which site posted the story as well as an option to enable images if there is one in the story
- MiniFlux Sync would be nice
- Offline reading?
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard

## Recent user reviews (10 of 110)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/an-otter-rss-reader/id1529696614/reviews.md

### 4/5 — Great app - but feeds keep disappearing

*2026-07-09, version 1.3.0*

I believe it to be a bug, unfortunately I can’t use it anymore. Using the latest mac os tahoe - I hope this app gets updated, the app is really great!

### 1/5 — It does not work

*2026-03-26, version 1.3.0*

You can add feeds and even export them. But that data will not persist. You know fsync() is a thing write?

### 5/5 — Elegant and convenient

*2025-07-05, version 1.3.0*

Advanced users recommend me using RSS then I tried and it is lightweight. I love it

### 5/5 — Great app

*2024-05-30*

Simple and easy to use. Encripted iCloud backups would be welcome, but it's not a requirement. It's just great the way it is!

### 5/5 — Abandoned Gem app

*2024-05-21, version 1.3.1*

It’s been my favorite app I used to use for years. But it’s been long abandoned for 2 years now since last update. Sad to see you go bud.

### 5/5 — good

*2024-02-29, version 1.3.0*

free and defind by self, nice!

### 1/5 — Abandoned app

*2024-01-28*

Unfortunately the app was abandoned. Since two years ago the app doesn’t receive any update. Besides that, the app are bugged not getting all the news from the source. It’s sad to see an app like forgotten.

### 5/5 — Cute RSS reader in every way

*2024-01-25*

First, otter. Win. Second, it's just really small - a fraction of the size of many other RSS readers, but it's still got a lot of functionality.

The macOS application is a Catalyst port with some rough edges around things like settings, but you wouldn't really know that when using the main application window for day-to-day tasks and I understand that the dev probably doesn't want to spend too much time on a comparative minority platform vs iOS.

All in all, this is great. Small and fast (despite the Catalyst underpinnings) with decent RSS support and a few little bells and whistles that are all I need. Can't argue with the donationware price, either!

### 2/5 — Only loads 5 articles

*2023-12-15, version 1.3.1*

Really like the app and the design but it only loads the first 5 articles

### 2/5 — Doesn‘t work properly

*2023-11-18, version 1.3.1*

Sadly doesn‘t work for me. The article list is very glitched. Articles flicker in and out of existence and about 30 of them don‘t show at all. 

It‘s a shame because I really like the app otherwise. It has a nice and simple interface and supports all the features that I want. 

The glitches happen on my ipad and my iphone.

## Frequently asked questions about An Otter RSS Reader

### What does An Otter RSS Reader do?

An Otter RSS Reader is a minimalistic application designed to help you subscribe to and manage RSS feeds. It synchronizes your subscribed feeds across your iPhone, iPad, and Mac using iCloud. The app allows you to discover new feeds automatically, organize them into folders, and read articles in a standard web view.

### What are the key features of An Otter RSS Reader?

Key features include iCloud synchronization for subscribed feeds, automatic discovery of RSS feeds from website domains, the ability to group feeds into folders for better organization, and reading articles directly in a normal web view. It also supports Shortcuts for automation and offers home screen widgets to display unread counts.

### Is An Otter RSS Reader free to use?

The application is free to download and use, with in-app purchases available. While the core functionality of subscribing, syncing, and reading feeds is provided, certain features or enhancements might be unlocked through these purchases.

### What devices is An Otter RSS Reader compatible with?

The app is designed to work across Apple's ecosystem, including iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It leverages iCloud to ensure your subscribed feeds and reading progress are synchronized seamlessly between these devices.

### How can I import or export my RSS feeds?

An Otter RSS Reader supports the OPML format for importing and exporting your feed subscriptions. If you are migrating from another RSS reader, you can import an OPML file containing your existing subscriptions. Conversely, you can export your feeds into an OPML file if you decide to move to a different application.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.3.1 — 2022-02-27

Just a few new alternate app icons

### 1.3.0 — 2021-03-27

- Brand new feed and article views (it's so pretty)
- New setting to try out beta feature of adjustable column layouts on iPad
- FIx for reader view not being loaded right away

### 1.2.1 — 2021-02-03

It looks like 1.2.0 broken some VoiceOver in the articles list :( Well..

1.2.1 brings back VoiceOver and it's better than before!
But VoiceOver improvement isn't done... More updates coming in the future!

### 1.2.0 — 2021-01-31

Holy sea urchins! This is a big update :)

- Fixed some crashes (whoops, I'm not perfect)
- Tip jar now allows you to tip over and over and over and over again
- Deduplication logic works better (you no longer need to read the same article twice *winky face*)
- New Shortcut for exporting your OPML file
- Article screen is COMPLETELY reworked (thank you for all of your feedback)
  * Full width
  * Can now favorite 
  * Swipe row for read, favorite, and more actions
  * Mark articles read above/below
  * New setting for mark as read while scrolling
  * Mark all as read
  * Hide all read articles
  * Filter all/unread and favorited/unfavorited
  * Last refreshed time actually works

### 1.1.2 — 2021-01-22

- Maybe crashing when in background (I don’t know, sometimes stuff happens)
- More icons (A green Otter and Antoine’s real life chickens)
- New deduplicating logic (you don’t need to read articles twice... or do you?)
- Can now edit feed descriptions (I give the people what they want)
- Added “Share” to context menu on feed and article

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## More apps by Josh Holtz

- [ConnectKit](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/connectkit/id1534510889)
- [Oh Crop - Emoji But As Photos](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/oh-crop-emoji-but-as-photos/id1563845967)
- [What's My Age Again Widgets](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/whats-my-age-again-widgets/id1608719208)
- [Playpen - Parental Control](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/playpen-parental-control/id1629800310)

All apps by Josh Holtz: https://appshunter.io/developer/1460622095

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-25.*